China state media blames Hong Kong protests on 'lawlessness'

China state media blames Hong Kong protests on 'lawlessness'

A protester throws back a tear gas canister during clashes with police outside the government headquarters in Hong Kong on Jun 12, 2019. (Photo: AFP/Anthony Wallace)

13 Jun 2019 08:03AM(Updated: 13 Jun 2019 09:36AM)

Share this content

Bookmark

SHANGHAI: Protests in Hong Kong over planned new extradition laws with China are "hammering" the city's reputation, with outbreaks of "lawlessness" undermining rule of law, Chinese state media said in editorials published on Thursday (Jun 12).

Police fired rubber bullets, tear gas and pepper spray in a series of skirmishes to clear demonstrators from around the city's legislature. It was some of the worst violence in Hong Kong since Britain handed it back to Chinese rule in 1997.

Advertisement

Advertisement

The Hong Kong Hospital Authority said 72 people had been hospitalised by 10pm on Wednesday.

The English-language China Daily said the new amendments were in line with international conventions but "the opposition camp and its foreign masters seem willing to oppose it for their own purposes at the expense of the city's rule of law, public safety and justice".

"It is lawlessness that will hurt Hong Kong, not the proposed amendments to its fugitive law," it said.